The Berlin Problem
by KickAssPanda1
Summary: The story of an extermination, turned fight for survival, told from the perspective of Private Parker. Along with him are Peter Whales, Will Blackthorn and Andrew Hoffman.
1. Meeting with Peter

Suddenly the darkness was lifted as the bag was roughly torn from my head. I squinted at first as my eyes adjusted to the light. The room was completely dark, except for one glaring light trained on me.

"What is your name soldier?" A gravely voice said from across the table I was seated at.

It took me a second to think of the answer, as I think I had been knocked out while being dragged here. "My name... is John Parker." It was hard to talk. My voice was kind of scratchy.

"So Parker, do you know why you are here?" I could make out some movement in the darkness across from me, but I still couldn't see the man's face.

"Actually sir, I have no idea why I'm here. Your men told me to come with them, and when I asked who they were and why they wanted me, they knocked me out and tossed me in the trunk of their car." I said, recalling what had happened last night. "Now sir, I don't feel comfortable talking to a man whose name I don't know."

The man chucked. "Boy, the personality reports where spot on. My name is Peter. Peter Whales. I fought in the war a couple years back. He was referring to World War Two. The year was 1947. The war had ended two years ago, but there was a lot of cleaning up to do. "I was the head of a secret operation."

"With all due respect sir, what was the operation?" I had heard the name Peter frequently around the campfire while I was campaigning in Peleliu. He was often associated with tales of Nazi experiments. I had never payed attention, but now I wished I had!

"I was just getting to that! Now son, you ever hear the stories about me? Well they are all true. You heard me! Stop looking at me like I'm about to blow your head off! I am an American soldier who was following orders!" He was angry. _Really_ angry. I guess he didn't like being associated with being a Nazi scientist.

"I'm sorry sir, its just kind of a surprised to hear the stories are true. I always said they where fools tales." I told him, trying to make up.

"Its OK." Peter sighed. "It was only natural you reacted the way you did. "But the reason you are here is something far more pressing." He leaned in closer to me. As his face entered the ray of light I could see it was scared heavily. His left cheek had three scars, almost like claw marks. "Parker, what would you say if I told you that the war isn't over. There are still battles to be fought. Except what we are fighting now, is worse than the Nazis."

"Aw, come on! What is worse than a Nazi?" I smirked. "I've killed quite a few of our Axis friends. I don't think these clowns could be any worse!" Peter gave me a solemn look, and I knew I would regret those words.


	2. The First Encounter

"So what the hell are we doing flying over Berlin?" Asked Andrew Hoffman. We where in a helicopter flying over the deserted streets of Berlin, Germany. It had been four hours after my meeting with Peter, and he was sitting to my left, and Hoffman was sitting to my right. Across from us sat Will Blackthorn. We where a strange group, all from different backgrounds. Peter told us that it was the differences in the last group that caused them to fail, so he made sure we were all American. The last unit was made up of an American, a Russian, a Japanese and surprisingly enough, a Nazi. "Hello? You gonna' answer me Peter? Why the hell are we in Germany?!" Hoffman demanded, much more stern than last time.

"I want you to see for yourselves." Peter said grimly. "I could never explain it well enough myself."

The two other soldiers and I shared a suspicious look. "What do you mean, 'you could never explain it'? How bad is is?" Blackthorn asked.

"Look out there and see." I was looking out the open doors of the helicopter, and what I saw was one of the most hunting things I have ever seen. And I had watched my squad of six tortured and executed at the hands of the Japanese!

"Oh my God..." Hoffman murmured. The streets where paved with bodies, blood everywhere. Blood, limbs and organs littered the street. I could make out some moving figures below. Some where running, some where limping, and some where crawling. Did that person have no legs?!

"This is why I couldn't have explained it." Peter told us, not taking his eyes off the scene below. "Behold the reason we are here. I'm sorry I wasn't straight with you, but I was afraid you would decline the mission."

"You told us this was an extermination, to kill the remaining Nazis!" Hoffman shouted over the roar of the helicopter blades. "You didn't tell us we would have to deal with this shit!"

"Calm down Andrew!" Perter said. "Those things down there are what we are exterminating! PILOT! LAND THE CHOPPER ON THAT TALL CHURCH ROOF!"

The helicopter began to land, and as it went down, so did out confidence. The things in the street where horrific! They wore uniforms, soaked in blood. Most had only half the skin on their face, with their vocal cords and skulls exposed beneath their pale green skin. I saw Blackthorn and Hoffman exchange a wide-eyed look. I couldn't take my eyes off the monsters. I hardly noticed the helicopter land. "Gentlemen, this is going to be our base camp for our stay." It was a run down church. Bloody hand prints where noticeable on the walls, and the windows where shattered. "Hoffman and Blackthorn, get the boards, nails and hammers from the chopper and board up these windows, Parker and I are going to make sure none of those freak-bags are here with us." Peter motioned me to follow him. We went to the helicopter and got guns for everyone. Hoffman got a Thompson, Blackthorn got a BAR, Peter took an M1A1 Carbine, and I took myself a Trench Gun. Just for safe measures we took four grenades each. When Blackthorn and Hoffman went off to fix the windows, Peter and I went on a hunt. After about five minutes of nothing we had found ourselves in a room which was most likely the main worship room. We where walking silently, our guns at the ready. Suddenly there was a creaking noise. A dull thumping sound. _Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. _We swiftly spun to face the noise. I went a little closer for my shotgun had the range disadvantage. Suddenly the door behind the podium creaked open, and there stood one of the... I'm not sure what you would call it. A ghoul? But whatever it was, when it saw us, its yellow, glowing eyes gazed unblinking at us for a moment. Then it let out a blood curdling moan. _Auuurrrreewww!_ And within a second, he was running at us. One arm out in front, the other flailing limply behind him. It rammed me, and I fell, shocked at its raw power, despite its thin limbs. It was reaching down a clawed hand to my throat. My Trench Gun had been knocked to the side when the creature tackled me, so I was left defenseless. Was that me screaming? I didn't even know. The only thing in the world was me, and the ghoul. As it was leaning in, its rotted face an inch from mine, its mouth open wide, trying to bite me, something happened. There was a sickening _thwack_ and the thing fell limp on top of me. I took no time in shoving it off. I stood up panting and saw Peter pull a long hunting knife out of the back of the creatures head. I stood there dumbfounded. Peter had just saved my life! But I said the only thing I could muster up. "What the hell was that?!"


	3. Unwanted Guests

"OK soldiers, it has come to my attention that I haven't been straight with you guys. I said that we were here to exterminate the remaining Nazis. What I was a little reluctant to say is that these," Peter held up the body of the creature that attacked me. "These things are the Nazis we were sent to kill." Blackthorn got up off the church pew he was sitting on and walked over to the mutated Nazi.

"What the hell happened to them? Why are they so..." He gestured at the Nazi. "Ya' know, screwed up?What did they do to themselves? I always knew Nazis-" Peter suddenly cut him off.  
"These things aren't Nazis anymore. When I first met these things, my general dubbed them zombies, based on the fact they ate the rest of our squad and could only die with a shot to the head." Peter looked around the room. We had all been pretty paranoid since Peter killed the zombie. The sound of the attack had apparently drawn out more zombies. For the past half hour there had been constant moaning from outside. "As for what they did to themselves, that is still unknown. All we know is that the last band of zombie killers were killed while clearing a German factory. Now if we could someho-" There was a loud snapping noise that we all went rigged at.

"GUYS! THERE ARE A LOT OF THEM OUT HERE!" Hoffman yelled. He was standing guard at the door that led to the room we were talking in. When we heard his Thompson firing and Hoffman calling the zombies all kind of odd names in English and Japanese, we knew it was bad. "DIE WORM FOOD!" He screamed and we heard a zombie give a dieing scream. We all ran out to see the zombies.

"Oh shit..." a wide eyed Peter said. "I haven't seen this many since the asylum... Well, what do you say we help Hoffman out?" He said as he cocked his M1A1 Carbine.

"Gladly!" I growled as I pumped my Trench Gun.

"Lets kill these brain dead bastards!" Blackthorn exclaimed as he put a new clip in his BAR.

We all gave a battle cry and ran into the fight. There were so many zombies, I lost sight of my allies. It was me, the zombies and the limbs I sent flying. With every shot, at least three zombies would fall. I could hear the guns of my fellows, and by their yelling I could tell Hoffman and Blackthorn were having a good time. I was personally having a good time myself!

I heard a yell above me and looked up to see Peter swing over me on a chandelier. He let out a maniacal laugh as he open fired with his riffle. Within five seconds, all the zombies around me were laying headless at my feet. Wait... That one was still running! I pulled out my knife, stuck the zombie in the back, pulled it to the barrel of my shotgun and _BOOM!_ When the zombie fell to the ground I saw a gaping hole in its chest. This was the kind of stuff I could get used to! As I was thinking triumphant thoughts, a zombie struck me between the shoulder blades. I fell forward onto my knees. "Damn these things are tough!" I wheezed. Working on my built up adrenaline I got on my hands, and kicked out with my back feet like a donkey. My kick landed the zombie square in the chest. I swiftly pulled out my Colt, which I never was without, and landed a shot square in the monsters forehead. "I LOVE BEING A MARINE!" I yelled as blood spattered in my face. Suddenly a zombie head flew at me.

"Hey Parker! Catch!" Blackthorn called. I caught the head and laughed as I smacked another zombie in the face with it.

After about an hour of non-stop zombie killing fun, the final zombie fell headless at my feet. Panting, I whipped blood and sweat from my face. I looked around at my comrades. Peter looked at us, and raised his arms and bellowed this: "Now _THAT_, was a hell of a Friday night!"


	4. The Box

That night, we slept in peace. We were so cocky, we didn't even post a guard! Before we slept, we cooked our food over a bonfire, but the thing was we used the corpses of the zombies. Call it what you will, I still say the food was the best thing I had ever tasted!

In the morning we divided into two groups. Peter and Blackthorn went to check the upper floors, and Hoffman and I were sent to check the basement. Hoffman was rather reluctant to enter the basement.

"What, afraid of the dark Hoffman?" I joked as we opened the door to the pitch dark basement. Hoffman merely grunted and turned on his flashlight. "Lets hope there are some maggot-sacks down there. I don't want this to be a complete waste." He walked down the creaky steps, into the darkness below. I turned on my flashlight, and trudged into the darkness below.

The basement was cold, and the air was thick with dust. The floor was made of cold stone, that caused our footsteps to echo, that only added to the eerie feeling. The dark was only pierced by the beams of our flashlight.

"Something just touched my leg!" Hoffman had froze, and had trained his flashlight on the corner of a shelf. We saw something disappear around the corner.

"Just a zombie." I said lowering my weapon. "With no legs..." I added.

"We better kill it. Don't want to be killed by a no legged zombie." The marine chuckled. He raised his gun and began following the zombie.

"Lets kill this bitch!" I exclaimed with a grin. I raised my Trench Gun and followed Hoffman. We tracked the former Nazi through a maze of shelves, lined with food and... did that jar have a head in it?!

After about five minutes of trailing the zombie, we found it in a corner, clawing at a box. I walked up to the zombie. It was totally engrossed in the box and didn't notice me.

"Shall you, or should I?" I asked my fellow. I walked over to a shelf and pulled off something that looked like a knife. It was so covered with rust that I couldn't tell what it was.

"You can take this one. There have to be more of these ghouls I this maze!" The soldier walked off while humming merrily. I took hold of the knife, and threw it. It struck the zombie clean in the back of the head. It let out a dying screech and fell limp. _I wonder what it wanted with the box?_ I walked over to the box, and reached out to touch it. "What the hell?!" I muttered to myself.

Four glowing, gold, pulsing question marks appeared on the box. Two small on the front and two large ones on the top. I poked the question mark. It felt wood, and cold. It tingled my fingers. I leaped backwards and quickly raised my gun. I lowered it in amazement. What kind of box was this? A gold light was coming out of the box, illuminating the ceiling. A gun suddenly floated out of the box! It was just... floating. Sitting there in the air. I reached out and grabbed the gun. The box flew shut and I jumped back. I only then realized that the gun was an MG42 machine gun! It was as heavy as I remembered. I shot it a jar on the shelf. "KICK ASS!" I yelled.

Hoffman ran around the corner. "I heard you yell! Is everything OK?!"

I chuckled. "I'm fine Andrew!" He hated being called by his first name. "Now, you have to see this!Hoffman went through the process I did, being scared at first, then realizing, then being pleasantly surprised.

Hoffman got an M2 Flamethrower. I looked at it jealously, and he offered to trade me the flamethrower for my shotgun. "Hell yes!" Was my response. I felt powerful walking around with the flamethrower tank on my back.

When we came back up to the main floor, we hared our discoveries. All the other team found was a box of torn, stitched, bloody teddy bears. When they heard about our discovery, they ran down to the basement, eager for a weapon. Peter came up with an STG sub-machine gun. Blackthorn was angry.

"All I got were some damn Molotov Cocktails!" he said angerly.

The next morning, we were talking, and telling jokes around the fire when a stange mist set in. There was a cruel, evil howling. "Son of a bitch." Peter said with an annoyed tone. The response was an evil, crooked laugh and the demonic words,

"FEATCH ME THEIR SOULS!!!"


	5. The Hell Hounds

We waited, guns raised, hearts racing. The fog was ice cold... _death_ cold. The stench of blood was heavy in the air.

"Peter..." Hoffman said. This was the first time I had ever heard genuine fear in his voice. "What the hell is going on?" I looked at Peter, who was staring, white faced, down at the main doors. There were two hallways on each side of the door, and something just moved out of one! It looked like a large wolf. No, make that a _huge_ wolf! I couldn't see the finer details from so far away. We lowered our guns. "Is that it!" Blackthorn exclaimed in a relieved voice. "A dog!" The dog's head suddenly flicked to look at us. It trotted in our direction, then it began sprinting. When it began running, it suddenly burs into flames!

"OH! SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIT!" Peter screamed. We began running away. We could feel the hell-fire of the dog, and hear its demonic roaring. I was running as hard as I could. My flamethrower wouldn't do anything, the dog was already on fire. I looked to my left as I heard Hoffman exclaim,"SCREW THIS!" He stopped, pivoted on one foot and open fired on the dog! The dog gave a screech as is shoulder was blown apart, then a bullet flew through its skull, and it fell to the ground. The fire went out as we stepped cautiously over to it. I nudged it over with my foot so we could see its face. My squad and I gasped. We had seen our friends slaughtered, captains tortured, and foes mauled, but none of us had seen something like this! The dog had red skin, with patches of matted, black fur all over it. It had glowing yellow eyes, much like the zombies. The one thing that freaked us out, was the fact we could see the bone. There were blotches of missing skin, were we could see clean to the bone. No blood, no muscles, not anything.

"What the hell is it?" I asked, tearing my eyes from the demon dog.

"I... I don't know." Peter whispered. "I don't remember these from my fights in the airfield. Hell, I didn't even fight these things in the asylum! And that was one twisted place!"

"Not to interrupt, but the fog hasn't cleared!" Blackthorn's voice was terrified. "They are still coming!" As if it was a signal, six more dogs ran into the room.

"OPEN FIRE!" I yelled. I didn't see what happened to the others, for I was being charged by two of the hell hounds. I drew out my Colt and began firing on them. It didn't do much, until I blew an eye out and shot ones leg and grounded it. Swiftly, I drew my knife, slit the closest one's neck, and threw the knife at the downed dog. The knife pierced it in the chest, and I ran up and gave it a twist, killing the dog.  
I turned just in time to see Peter crack open his dogs head. As he delivered the killing blow, all the dog corpses exploded in balls of fire.

"DAMN YOU!!!" The demonic voice that summoned the dogs screeched. "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!" And the fog cleared. We all stood, shaken and relieved. We all looked around, and didn't say a word the rest of the night. It was as if the dogs had drained our confidence and good mood.

We didn't hear a zombie moan for the next two days, and although the sound was missed, we wound up hearing something nobody expected.

"VAT ARE JEW DOING IN MY CHURCH!?!"


	6. The Nazi Doctor

We all jumped at the voice. It had a German accent, and a slightly insane glee to it.

"Again, vat ze hell are jew doing in my church?!" He roared. As we turned to face him, we could see he was wearing a light green uniform, covered with badges and Swastikas. The suite of a Nazi. "Lower your vepons children, I mean jew no harm... yet." The man murmured the last part just loud enough to hear. Hoffman dashed up and aimed his trench gun at the German's throat.

"You move, you die! What are you doing here you dirty Krout?!" He growled, aiming his gun at the bottom of his jaw.

"I hate it ven jew dumb shit Americans call ME A KROUT!!!" The German grabbed Hoffmans shotgun gave it a sharp twist and in one skillful move, he was about to shoot Hoffman!

"Put the gun down Richtofen!" Peter exclaimed with a grin. It wasn't a grin of the final kill, it was a true friendly smile.

"Vate a minute... PETER!" The Nazi named Richtofen yelled. He ran and gave Peter a big bear hug. "Ets been a long time in deed brozer."

"It has, old friend! It has. Now what have you been doing out here?" Peter asked, bouncing with excitement. I had never seen him like this. He was usually so calculated. So in charge. Now he was bouncing around like a zombie in a slaughterhouse.

"Oh! Ed, you must meet the rest of my squad. This is Hoffman, Parker and Blackthorn. Gentlemen, this is Edward Richtofen."

"Oh!" Hoffman boomed pointing at the doctor with his knife. "So the Krout has a name? I prefer to call them Dead Bastards! I prefer my Dead Bastards in the fire pits, not standing here in front of me!"

Richtofen looked blankly at Hoffman. "If jew meant those threats jew flilthy American, I vould be dead , and jew vould be shunned, and rejected by jour squad." The doctor said, in a menacingly calm voice.

"Why I aught to tear your throat out!" Hoffman growled and he began to advance on the Nazi.

What happened next stunned us all. Richtofen whipped out a pistol and shot at Hoffman! The bullet grazed the American's ear, making a small, bloody nick where the bullet hit. As Hoffman was stunned, the German leaped, grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back and flicked a Bowie Knife up onto his throat.

"Jew shouldn't scew vith EDVARD RICHTOFEN!" The insane man screamed.

Peter ran up and kicked Richtofen's hand causing the knife to go skimming off across the church floor. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He yelled. "Get a hold of yourself!" He said smacking Richtofen in the face, whose eyes had widened at the impact. He sunk to his knees.

"I guess zat is vat happens ven jew are alone with zombies for two jears eh'?" The doctor said with a weak grin. "I am sorry. It vont let it happen again. Jew have my German word!"

Blackthorn snorted with suppressed laughter. "You just attempted to murder Andrew! You are a psychopath! Why should we trust you?" His eyes had slanted and he had raised his BAR.

I spoke for the first time since meeting Richtofen. "Richtofen... I don't know if we can trust you, but you seem to know about the zombies. You have managed to survive this long alone, and I can imagine you could do with some extra help with whatever you are doing. I am willing to help you if you can help us survive."

"Very vell put... Parker vas it? Jess." Richtofen nodded. "Spoken almost as vell as Hitler himself! Very vell jew American diplomat! I shall bring jew, and even jour annoying ass friend." He pointed over his Swastika embellished shoulder at Hoffman.

Without another word, he brusquely walked out of the church, ignoring the zombies that lunged and reached for him.

"I don't like this... Blackthorn grumbled.

"Does it look like we have a choice?" Hoffman whispered. "Ah well! We get to his lab, use his weapons, then snuff out the S.O.B.'s Nazi light!"

So with those last grim words, my fellows walked out of the church, and into the horde, clinging to the hope we werent being led into a trap by the stranger clad in the green Nazi uniform.


	7. Orgins

Three days had passed since we met Richtofen. I don't think there is any single word to describe him. Sometimes he is happy as Hitler in a room of Jews. Other times he is as angry and annoyed as the Jews would be. I have grown used to waking to the sounds of zombie moans and growls. Richtofen doesn't bother much with fortifications. Just some boarded up windows and blockaded doors. The one good thing about this guy: The weapons. He has one thing he calls the Wonder Waffe. It shoots lighting that chains from one zombie to the next. It kills up to ten zombies at once! He also has a Ray Gun! This guy is pretty OK for a Nazi.

Hoffman and Blackthorn were suspicious at first, but when they saw the Ray Gun shoot its first green burst and blow a zombies head clean off, they were hooked. Peter and Richtofen seem to have been pretty close in the past... I wonder what the connection is.

Over the past few days Richtofen has been explaining the zombies. Hitler was trying to make a super soldier, but the experiments went to shit when the super soldier program was successful. How ironic. The program went in flying colors. It was incredible. They could take a double barrel shotgun to the head and survive! But it just figures they couldn't be controlled and went crazy, killing everyone who got in their way. Those poor, sick bastards!

About a week before the zombies began their domination campaign, Richtofen screwed up. Bad. Edward Richtofen was the assistant to Dr. Ludvig Maxis. Maxis had a daughter named Samantha, and she had a dog named Fluffy. Fluffy was about to have puppies when Richtofen locked Maxis, Samantha and Fluffy in a prototype teleportation chamber. They never came back out at the mainframe. Except Fluffy. She had puppies while between dimensions and that resulted in the teleporting, flaming Hell Hounds we have come to know and love. Damn things!

Maxis and Samantha weren't lucky enough to be able to come back to this dimension, but they haven't passed onto the next either. They are in a state of limbo. The voice we heard when the dogs attacked: Maxis. I haven't heard Samantha yet, but maybe that's a good thing.

Little Sammy is kind of like the ring leader of the zombies. She controls them like puppets, wielding a marionette of mass slaughter. She is the key. Ever since Richtofen shared this piece of information, I have been thinking. If we can avenge her wrathful spirit, maybe she will leave, and the zombies will go with her. I have been thinking about every opening to stab our Nazi friend in the back, but he never leaves himself vulnerable. Damn him!

Five days after meeting Richtofen he shows us his teleporter. I don't mean like the kind in a bad sci-fi movie. This is the real deal.

"And zis is ze teleporter." Richtofen said in his rough German accent.

Blackthorn looked on in amazement. "A teleporter? No way! Imposable!" He gasped in amazement. The teleporter looks like a bell. I'm not sure if its safe but why not try it out? Richtofen attempts to explain to us how it works, but all the science goes straight over my head. I only half listen, my thoughts filled with zombies, dogs and little dead girls.

Six days after the teleporter, we get to try it out. We are going to be sent to the secret Nazi facility called Der Reise, or The Giant in English. We all take out pick of weapons before we leave. I'm going to face the zombie horde with an MG42 and a ray gun. Thank God he could supply four ray guns. he isn't coming with us and I will miss him. Weird. Never thought I would miss an insane Nazi doctor.

As Richtofen fires up the teleporter I take inventory. We each have grenades, flares and Ray Guns. We have an MG42, Peter has a Browning, Blackthorn has a PPSH and Hoffman has an MP40.

We step into the teleporter, the door sliding shut behind us. Richtofen gives us the German salute and Hoffman responds with his middle finger. Before we can see Richthofen's response, there is a blinding blue flash of light and we are gone. Within five seconds we are In another teleporter. As the door slides open Hoffman stumbles out a vomits. "Never. Again." He heaves. We all step out, dizzy.

"Holy shit." I murmur. We are sorounded by zombies. Hoffman stands up and cocks his gun. "After you!"


End file.
